Monthly Archives: May 2017

Memorial Day weekend is the annual Garden Jubilee in Hendersonville, the largest annual plant show and sale in the western North Carolina area. We go most years, and this year I was on the hunt for more perennials, and I really want a clematis for the lattice in the front garden bed. Local nurseries and garden centers bring their best and the displays are a delight for the eyes.

We came up at the middle of Main Street, looking north you can see lots of plant vendor tents along with arts and crafts vendors. The crowds were substantial as the weather was wonderful, but it wasn’t hard to move around and see all the flowers, veggies, and herbs on offer. We were there in the morning before it got too hot. The large trees are permanent plantings, along with flower beds here and there. Note the wonderful architecture on the buildings peeking over the trees.

Looking south from the same intersection, lots more vendors, people, and gorgeous plants for sale, with a distant view of a mountain. Hendersonville sits in a valley between two ranges. There were eight blocks of Main Street blocked off for foot traffic only, vendors along the street on both sides and lots of things to see.

Lots of people were purchasing rolling carts, and filling them up. I liked this purple flower, but I didn’t see where it came from.

There were several vendors with ‘yard art’, I thought about getting one of these chickens, but ultimately didn’t. Cute though.

Lovely selections of all kinds of flowers and colors were all along the street on both sides.

These light purple verbenas are a nice pairing with the deep purple petunias. Every plant vendor had wonderful ideas for putting plants together in baskets and pots. Aren’t those hydrangeas gorgeous!

The next vendor had lovely red salvia flowers in pots.

And one more down was showcasing pink and white.

I came very close to buying this dalia. But the vendor was honest enough to tell me that it wouldn’t survive our winters without being dug up and stored. Not something I really want to do, I want to plant some perennials and just let them take over. But it is a beautiful flower.

One of the craft vendors was offering barn quilts. These were so neat, some like this one were done in reclaimed wood. Others like the yellow, black and grey were made of tiles.

I think one of these would be super over the garage door on our taller garage.

There is a quilt trail starting in Henderson county, and I’ll try to get around to seeing some of those soon.

The next plant vendor had a pink Mountain Laurel. I’ve lived here for years, and thought it only came in white! After I saw this one, I saw more growing wild. I just never got close enough to the wild ones to see they were Mountain Laurel.

I was tempted by these foxgloves too, remember the ones at Brookgreen Gardens? I may try one eventually, they are biennials, reseeding every year, with new plants blooming the second year.

I took a lot more photos of flowers, but I’ll close with this one of a huge display of hanging baskets.

So, what did I buy? Only one plant, a Cherokee Purple Heirloom Tomato, and I hope grows well. I picked up some coupons to visit local growers next week. Being local has its advantages, I don’t have to walk around with a bunch of plants, I can get them a bit later. What did you do over the weekend?

Sometimes I am up really early in the morning, and have the wonderful opportunity to witness the sunrise over the mountain to the east. There is just something about the light in the early morning that is different from evening. I’ve never been able to describe the difference, but I can see it. It somehow seems softer, more pure.

The torenia baskets seem to turn their faces to the morning light.

A view down the veranda. Quiet. Peaceful. Only bird song breaks the silence.

Noticing the shadows of the railing on the flooring boards, a gentle breeze moves the leaf shadows ever so slightly.

Hot coffee and a cool morning, perfect to reflect on our many blessings, and enjoy the beauty of our little corner of the world. It is also a great time to just think, and I have been doing some designing in these quiet hours too. I will have a new quilt pattern for you soon.

The valley has a different look to the layers of hills and distant mountain ridge with the light from the east. We face south so the east is to the left in this picture.

The bird feeder was seeing a lot of visitors on this day.

Here and there, dew drops had formed on flowers.

Interplay of light and shadow make interesting shapes.

I really liked the shadow on this lobelia trailing tendril, this may be a photo entry in the fair later this year. The shapes are interesting, and the clear light made a sharp edged shadow.

Looking up, the clouds looked like flying visitors.

Light and shadow on the driveway down the mountain, in the golden morning. Reminiscent of a time gone by, of a slower day, time to be still and breathe.

The blue jay calls, and the chickadees answer. A titmouse, a wren and a nuthatch join the choir. This is a morning for gratitude, for our lives, our freedom, our beautiful home and property, our family and friends, our many blessings. Count your blessings today, and remember those who have protected our freedom. Have a wonderful Memorial Day.

My blog is a variety of subjects, quilting and sewing, tablescapes and recipes, book reviews and hand stitching, crafting and mountain living. I love to have new followers, too! See the buttons on the sidebar to follow by your favorite method. If you are visiting from Fave Quilts, Pinterest, a blog hop or link up, please stay a bit and have a look around, my tutorials are gathered at the top in pages to make them easy to find. Lots of fun is had here, and I invite you to follow with any of your favorite methods, see the sidebar for ways to follow. Click on the Home page to see the latest posts on the blog.

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The giveaway drawing has been held, and the winners have been notified by email. Forgive me for two posts in one day, I just have too much to tell you all right now, LOL!! Thank you to all who commented on my Burgundy and Gold Stage Theater tablescape, too!

Winner of the Broadway Cast version of Victor Victoria is Linda, who blogs at Life and Linda.

Winner of the Chicago DVD is Kathy in WV.

Winner of the Portrait of Broadway music cd is Mary S who blogs at Needled Mom. Emily L. has won the Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber. The Josh Groban cd will go to Rita C, who blogs at Panoply.

Congratulations to all the winners!! It was fun that two of the winners came from the first four commenters, and one was next to last. You just never know if it is good to comment early or wait until later. The random number generator did a great job this time!!

The Broadway Bingo download is still available. It took four hours to create, and I’d love to have a few more take advantage of the free game download. You don’t have to watch the awards to play, it will work just as well with a list of winners from the newspaper. Click on 2017 Broadway Bingo. Family friendly fun.

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Memorial Day weekend is here, a great time for some finger food to watch the auto races on Sunday, or to take to the park for a picnic, or pack in a warmer to go hiking. Even if you are staying home, the weather looks nice here for a meal on the veranda. This tablescape was from a lunch a while ago, and I might just do the same this weekend. The plastic star plates are set on paper patriotic napkins for color, and the white straw placemats.

Patriotic napkins are wrapped around plastic forks and tied with ribbon. Placecards add a personal touch.

My Patriotic Table Runner is a tutorial that you can make in a day. This tablescape was from last year when it looked like rain on the holiday. More casual, this one didn’t have chargers, just white dinner plates and red salad plates on white placemats, and red napkins held with wood napkin rings.

I have used this runner several times a year since I made it, as it goes for all the Patriotic holidays over the summer. This one used my depression glass candlesticks with red candles and the little starburst weighted sprays I got at the dollar store. Red chargers and napkins held with strawberry napkin rings sit atop white lace placemats.

So, food! Let’s make some Crescent Dogs for munching. This is a great make ahead recipe for taking along to a picnic, potluck, or even hiking. Start with separating the crescent dough into four sections, ignoring the diagonal perforations. Press those perforations so the dough holds together.

Boil your hot dogs for a few minutes to be sure they are cooked through and hot. The crescent rolls will get brown before the dogs are done, so precooking is essential. Yes, you could grill the dogs for even more flavor.

Spread mustard on the crescent rolls.

Now place the cooked hot dogs on the rolls. Using two dogs per section, cut the dough in half. Add cheese if you like.

Wrap the dough around the hot dogs and place on a baking sheet.

Bake as directed on the crescent roll dough tin until golden brown. I have to admit that I cannot remember and didn’t write it down when I did these. I think it is about 11-13 minutes at 425 degrees, but use the directions on the tin.

Yum, nicely browned, and ready to eat. Makes 8, two per person would feed four for lunch.

If you are taking them to a party, just cut into bite size pieces. You can get four nice bite size pieces from each one, for 32 appetizers.

While you are munching on Crescent Dogs, read about my Patriotic Star Mini Quilt, full tutorial with two quilting runs in different colors.

Back to the table, I’ll be using my neat large plastic tray I got in a silent auction some time ago. I think Crescent Dogs will go nicely on this for passing around the party.

These bowls were in the same silent auction win, and I haven’t had a chance to use them yet. Maybe this year.

Celebrate our Freedom this weekend, and remember those who paid for our freedom with the ultimate sacrifice on Monday. This mural is a recent addition to our local art, finished in time for the Memorial Day weekend. It is located on the side of an historic building on 4th street, and the mural faces King.

Have a great holiday weekend! What are your plans?

My blog is a variety of subjects, quilting and sewing, tablescapes and recipes, book reviews and hand stitching, crafting and mountain living. I love to have new followers, too! See the buttons on the sidebar to follow by your favorite method. If you are visiting from another blog, feature or linkup, please stay a bit and have a look around, my tutorials are gathered at the top in pages to make them easy to find. Lots of fun is had here, and I invite you to follow with any of your favorite methods, see the sidebar for ways to follow. My third mystery quilt is in progress, click on Scrap Dance Two Step on the sidebar for the first post. Click on the Home page to see the latest posts on the blog.

Repairing a well loved quilt is one of the things I really enjoy doing. Sometimes a quilt is just used to the point of falling apart, and really, what better tribute to a wonderful quilt than for the owner to wear it out? I’d much rather see that than a beautiful quilt wrapped in tissue and hidden in a drawer. Recently an applique quilt came to me for repairs, and I wanted to show a couple of techniques I used to give it more life.

Beautifully made by the owner’s grandmother, there is love here in every stitch. I was delighted that the owner brought it to be repaired before it was too damaged. Getting to these rips early makes it easier to repair.

Some of the appliques were lifting up, but not too many.

I began with the rips. First I ironed the sections to be sure there was still enough fabric remaining to support the repair. There was.

Next I cut a small bit of fusible web, making sure I had enough to cover all the ripped areas.

Turn back the edges and slip the fusible web under the fabric, and on top of the batting. I make sure that the webbing extends past all the ripped areas so the edges will fuse. The quilting wasn’t disturbed during this part, as the rips were not in a quilted area.

Press carefully, making sure the stray threads and edges are secured.

Now, satin stitch over the rip.

The webbing reinforced fabric is strong enough to stitch now, and the matching thread will make this hard to see at a casual look. It actually took us a minute to find the repair when she picked it up.

The appliques were hand stitched, being careful not to go all the way through the quilt. The quilt is hand quilted in white thread, with a white backing. I didn’t want any red or green thread to show. This quilt was so soft and warm, it was a joy to stitch on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Since the appliques were already needle-turned, this part was relatively easy. I checked the rest of the appliques to be sure the others were still holding. All in all there were only about 8 that needed to be resewn. I’ll tell you a secret, I almost wished for more appliques to lift so I could work on it more, LOL!!

All done, and the owner was happy with the result. I advised her to have the binding redone at some point in the future as it is beginning to really wear thin. I did whip stitch a bit of it to hold for now. The great thing is she has lots of time to find the right fabric for a new binding that will keep the quilt usable for years to come. She can find something close in color, and wash it over and over, dry it in the dryer, and hang it in the sun until it fades to just the right shade and softens to the touch.

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The Tony awards for the best of Broadway are coming up, so what better theme for a blog hop than Broadway Tablescapes, coordinated by Chloe at Celebrate and Decorate! Plus, today I have some additional surprises for readers, so come along we have things to see, games to play and a giveaway too! The actual award ceremony is June 11, so you have lots of time to see all the inspiration. My inspiration for a tablescape and party come from an old theater I used to go to many years ago. It was a stage theater that was remodeled into a movie theater. The colors, as often are the case for stage theaters, were deep burgundy red and gold. Ornate doorways with gold leaf carvings were gateways into another world for just a couple of hours. Deep burgundy red draperies hung on the walls and across the stage with heavy tassels and gold fringe on the bottom. Heavy brass railing went across the balcony, and matched the wall sconce lighting that dimmed to just a soft glow, instilling a hush across the audience as attention shifted to the stage. There was always a bit of excitement and anticipation as the lights dimmed and the curtains parted to reveal the screen and the beginning of the feature.

I challenged myself to create this table using only what I already had. Starting with the base, I put a dark burgundy square tablecloth on the table on point, resisting the urge to buy one that would cover the whole table. I have a pale gold lightweight wool shawl, and I placed it in the center, bunching it up a bit in the center and trailing the fringe on each end. My ivory damask placemats went on top.

From the den, I snagged the little lamp we use when watching movies for the center of the table, rather than using candles. The low light is helpful on the eyes when we darken the room for movie nights. The lamp again reminds me of the low lighting of the stage theater. I ran the cord under the shawl.

There is a plug on the floor not to far away from the table. The cord goes under the placemat at my place setting, then down to the floor and an extension cord to plug in the lamp. I’ll make sure the cord is covered with a small throw rug so no one will trip on it.

On the table, the shawl fringe hides the cord nicely.

For a little glamour befitting an awards show, I added a couple of my vintage evening bags. I’ve used them on a table before too. I picked two that were gold or glitzy to keep with the theme. From my holiday box, I pulled the gold star wire garland to add a bit of glittery starry shine to the table.

Each place setting has a gold charger, white china dinner plate, and dark red salad plate. The wine glasses are cut glass or etched glass in crystal with gold rims or soft pink. I don’t have six matching stems, so I mixed three patterns around the table. Each setting also gets individual salt and pepper shakers. Dark gold napkins are held with gold beaded rings.

The good silverware is on this table too. As I stood back, it seemed to be almost but not quite finished. It needed just a bit of something more.

I pulled some silk flowers out of the flower stash, and removed the them from their stems. Scattering the dark red flowers around the centerpiece finished it off, adding just that touch of red that was missing.

Then, I turned off the lights and waited for evening to fall so I could see it with the lamp lit. Perfect.

How fun is this!! It brings that theater experience to the table. The only problem is daylight saving time means we’d be eating really late. That probably won’t happen on a Sunday night. These award shows should be on Friday or Saturday, when it is more feasible to have guests stay late. But, of course, if you really want to, you could record the show, and watch it a few days later when it is easier to stay up and have people over later.

And you just might want to do that with the game I have for you, Broadway Bingo! The rules are quite simple, play just like Bingo. Each of the 8 provided play sheets are different, with five different categories each containing five nominees for the 2017 Tony Awards. Only categories with five nominees were chosen for the boards, such as Best Leading Actor in a Musical, or Best Featured Actress in a Play, along with other categories like Best Direction or Choreography. Mark winners as they are announced in the given categories. Participants can circle winners with ink, or use a yellow or light color highlighter. Five in a row, either across or diagonal is a winning board.

There are two additional entries at the bottom of each sheet with Best Play and Best Musical for a second chance win, or use as wildcards. Family friendly for an evening of fun!
Download the Rules and 8 unique game boards by clicking on this link – 2017 Broadway Bingo

Provide a few prizes for participants to win, inexpensive gifts with a Broadway theme are easy to do. For example, prizes could be videos of Broadway hits made into movies, or books that became Broadway hits and microwave popcorn tied with ribbon. I used Act II brand popcorn just because it fit the theme. No one will mind if the videos or books came from the library secondhand sale. If no one wins, then have the participants put their names on the boards and draw one.

And now, a giveaway for readers for a new DVD of Victor Victoria with the original Broadway cast! I’ll also be giving away a secondhand DVD of Chicago. Then, a couple of lucky readers will receive a cd of Broadway music, or a Josh Groban cd. (Giveaway has been done.) Josh Groban is nominated for best leading actor in a musical for “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812” this year, and I am rooting for him to win.

Yes, I will ship anywhere in the world! But, since the DVDs will likely only play on a Region 1 player, please let me know in the comments if you are outside of the US or Canada. To enter for the drawing, leave a comment on this post answering the question, what is your favorite Broadway show or musical from the past? You already know mine, Victor Victoria. Or, have you seen a Broadway show on Broadway? Followers may have a second entry with a second comment stating how you follow – email, Bloglovin, blog roll reader or Feedly. The drawing will be on Sunday, May 28th, winners will be notified by email.

More fun for you today, a fantastic blog hop of more tablescapes with a Broadway theme. Be sure to visit all the bloggers this week for lots of great ideas. And thanks again to Chloe for coming up with this fun theme and putting the hop together. Her tablescape is scheduled for Friday at Celebrate & Decorate!

Good luck in the drawing and have fun playing Broadway Bingo! What is your favorite Broadway play or musical? Have you ever seen a Broadway show on Broadway? Do you have a memory of an old style theater?

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Continuing on with the Quilts of Valor for the Grand Strand Quilters, the next one is a panel with an eagle in the center surrounded with borders. The backing provided was a dark blue.

Once again, the borders are a bit full, and I suspect that they were not measured. The cornerstone blocks are not straight.

There is fullness in the middle too.

Folding it up from the bottom, you can see how the middle of the quilt is smaller than the edges, indicating too much fabric in the borders.

I removed it from the frame and steam pressed the entire quilt with the 50/50 solution I make of Best Press and water. I do use a spritz bottle, never put this solution in the iron itself. After some pulling and pressing, I was able to get the quilt a bit more squared up, with only a couple of problem areas left.

Next is auditioning thread. The important consideration with thread this time was not only the color of the backing, but the thickness of the thread. In order to minimize the impact of the quilting on the eagle, I needed a thin thread that would not obscure the eagle’s face. The blue Aurifil thread was perfect, and matched the backing. Yes, I often quilt with Aurifil, both the top thread and the bobbin.

I decided on the gentle swirl of this pantograph, as it was suggestive of clouds like on the panel. Here is one of the many puckers that appeared on the side.

You can see some puckering of the fabric due to the excess of border fabric at the bottom of this picture. I really didn’t like this, but I didn’t want to rip it out.

I think the quilting looks good on the background sky of the panel.

Some of the excess fabric on the border edges created fullness in the middle as I tried to keep the border seam lines straight.

Once again, as I got to the bottom, the fullness and wonky corner became apparent.

It seemed to be worse on the bottom blue border, as this much fullness was too much to work in.

So, I made a pleat with the excess and stitched it down. I ended up doing four of these, one on each side and two on the bottom.

Even so, there is still puckering in the bottom border.

I know I harp on this a lot, but you can see what your longarmer has to go through when the borders are put on with the slap and sew method. I just wish I could get this message out to everyone. If you haven’t seen my tutorial on properly applied borders, click HERE to understand the difference between measuring and not measuring.

Puckers at the top of the picture too. Yes, these will be minimized with washing, but I don’t think these quilts are laundered prior to presentation.

All done, I am not happy with the sides, but I did the best I could.

I was pleased with the Aurifil thread for quilting, as it is thin and doesn’t detract from the eagle.

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